Patriot: I looked at both 28...Kf7 (attempting to remove the guard on e6) and 28...Rg5+. I chose 28...Rg5+ only because black has nothing to lose and a lot to gain if 29.Kh1. It's one of those "just play it and see what happens" moves. But then I calculated 29.Kh3 Rf3+ 30.Kh4 h6 and also considered 30...Rg1 without seeing the mate potential.

I would not have calculated all of this in a 30-minute game for sure. The power of 30...Rg1 just didn't seem obvious to me, but I probably would've played the first move or two and hopefully would've seen the finish with the position in front of me.

tarek1: Van der Sterren obviously missed this slow motion mating attack ... but it looks like if he plays, say, <28.h4> instead of the blunder <28.Rxe6> he just loses a pawn with no clearcounterplay.
So I wondered if <28.Ra7> may be a better try, because the combination doesn't work now that White has a back rank mate : 30...Rg1 then 31.Rd8
And if Black takes the pawn with 28...Rxe5, doesn't 29.Rdd7 guarantee white a draw ?

310metaltrader: One of the keys to this puzzle is how the pawns and rooks are in each other's way. in the middle game, there is really no good way to rearrange pawns and rooks, but in the endgame, you can do so and to great effect.

chrisowen: White folds, the win going to Jan. Stirring the pair of rooks gives white the victim man. Fit checking the plight of the monarch after Rg5+. The dovetail plan makes sure he leaves the nest.. Kh3 Rf3+ Kh4. Rg1 would have then gone down and crumbles his attack is past. Rye is the hawk (isn't it wry?) who shoots down the flank. You cooked up a nice dutch treat, thanks CG

al wazir: As black I never would have played 23...Rbf6, because 23...Rxb3 looks straightforward and winning. (If 24. Rxe6, then 24...Rxb2, threatening mate and the f-♙; if 24. f3, then 24...exf3 25. gxf3 Rxf3.)

YouRang: The first few moves were pretty intuitive (my apologies to the intuition-challenged). But 28...Rg5+ is called for because (1) it is forcing, and (2) it pushes the white king up against a wall (where it is particularly vulnerable to mate, especially in the presence of rooks). Of course 29.Kh3 is the only choice (29.Kh1?? Rf1#).

Again, intuition suggests 29...Rf3+, if for no other reason than it's check (which always feels kinda good), it's forcing, and it attacks a pawn. Granted, these reasons alone are not the stuff of puzzle solutions, but they do catch the eye. The only reply: 30.Kh4.

Now what? Well, our rook on g5 is in take and guarding it with ...h6 doesn't look promising. It does has one safe move where it nicely maintains it's control of the g-file: 30...Rg1.

Is there anything promising about this? Yes! the king can't leave h4 lest ...Rh3#, but we threaten to force it from h4 with ...g5! (note that this threat was only became possible when we vacated g5 with 30...Rg1). Black can give check, but curiously it has no satifying way to stop the threat.

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